Set phasers to “blind”

[Directive0] added a 200mW laser to his Enterprise Phase Pistol toy. This joins the ranks of hand-heldlaser hacks that we’ve seen around here lately. His build makes use of the stun and kill settings of the toy to switch between different modes. The built-in 9 volt battery holder is tapped into for power. When set to stun, the stun LED indicator is illuminated and a trigger pull sends current limited electricity to the laser diode. When the kill (or blind) setting is selected, the appropriate LED is illuminated and the trigger sends the full current from the battery to the laser diode. Power regulation is managed by the driver circuit for the laser.

This build preserves the unmodded look of the toy gun. [Directive0’s] inclusion of protective glass should fend off the warnings we usually see in the comments of these types of hacks.

forget the glasses, phasers are still dangerous, hence the kill setting on the gun. if you want to be safe, play with [un-modded] nerf guns. you guys have obviously never seen star trek, people die from these things, you ppl are so irresponsible.

As goofy as the overall concept is, this could be useful for star gazing/astronomy. You would of course want to use a green laser, but you would get great stability from a pistol grip laser in comparison to an ink pen style laser.

Why, huh? That’s a tough one. I rarely ask questions of that nature when I’m having fun.

I guess the only statement close to an answer would be because I already had both an old Phaser toy and a Laser kicking around and wanted to try my hand at reworking the case and making the basic control circuitry so I could adjust focus and aim safely without having to wear goggles. I wanted to have two settings so I could use it for burning or just play around with different optics and refractors without worrying about stray photons blinding me. I acknowledge that this is not a very safe practice and could lead to potentially dangerous situations. I do not suggest anyone else do this. I have noticed that with a laser of this power just having a “Laser is on” light is handy.

If you are looking for a specific purpose for this device beyond “pointing it at things and making them burn”, “seeing what crazy things it does in certain glass objects” or “taking it outside on overcast nights and watching it reflect off of cloud bases” well I’m afraid I just can’t give you one.

If your point is that this device is without purpose or a waste of time then you and I are in complete agreement but I still had a lot of fun doing it.

What would be cool if someone was able to
integrate a high power (ie. 7+ watt) laser
diode into a “phaser rifle” (as only seen
once on the Star Trek episode “Where No Man
Has Gone Before”). Now THAT would be one
hell of an actual offensive weapon that one
might be able to use against organics (ie.
living tissue) with devastating effect.

200mW!?! Since I have a retina burn from a *much* lower powered laser my opinion of this will be obvious.

There have been several cases of dickhead dazzling airline pilots on final approach here in Australia and the authorities are up in arms about it, naturally with talk of “restricting access” to lasers which has intimidated suppliers. This hack is exactly the kind of thoughtless act that has made life progressively more difficult for amateur scientists. It’s about the level of randomly spraying the surroundings with an Uzi. 0/10 and a kick in the bum.

Just because he put a laser in the faser dosn’t mean he uses the laser in a dangerous manor. aka guns don’t kill people people kill people. as for the faser rifle mod united nuclear has a 100 watt laser for sale. That cut things nicely. Ofcorse if a idiot gets one we will have none.

I like this hack. It might be interesting to work some kind of rheostat function into the project. Of course, the only place I see for a rotating assembly that doesn’t affect the look of the gun is near the muzzle, which would make cramming the components in rather harder.

I figured this was coming, I tried to braced myself for it. As a nerd AND an aviation enthusiast I understand PRECISELY where you are coming from. Here in my home town of Toronto they are discussing the same issues. But I can guarantee you every single kid down at Bluffers park spiking Cessna 150’s and dash 8’s are using off the shelf 5mw greenies they bought from some corner store or mall, and wouldn’t know the first thing about lasers or the safe use of one. You will see no home built laser drivers, no home built laser pistols. These kids DO NOT CARE ABOUT LASERS. I would hazard that anyone who spent more than 5 minutes learning about lasers would realize the stupidity and traceability of that action.

I’m not sure if this is a case of “once lasered, twice shy” or “get off my damn lawn, you kids”. But if my little pistol here just by EXISTING and not being used irresponsibly causes you some duress then I apologize. All I can tell you is I am extremely careful when enjoying my laser, show it to only the people I know are responsible enough to handle it, and I do not discharge the laser at anyone or anything with retinas. I always use proper eye protection, but that goes without saying.

Beyond that, you’re just going to have to relax and realize that people need to have fun and sometimes that fun is ill-advised. May I suggest that in the future you try to judge peoples actions and intentions don’t just assume someone is a douchy plane spiker, cause that ain’t cool.

I’ve had ideas of doing something like this before… Maybe make it more than blinding…
And I hope someone can answer what is most likely a noobish question: Would having multiple lasers (5MW) reflecting off mirrors (or even just angled) so that they meet at the same point at all increase the amount of light? In other words, if I point two 5MW lasers at the same place, is it receiving 10MW of light? (I know little about physics don’t kill me please).

I have made several laser phasers. One green 100 mW too weak, 1 1000 mw blue into an assault phaser and now a Supposedly 5000mw blue into the old show phaser, all no sound. to me a deadly weapon shouldn’t’ go whhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee but closer to Lucas’ cross between dirty hairy gun and a laser sound(swinging across the chasm with Leia scene. ) Now that sounds like it’ll blow your head off. People ask why. I thought for a profound answer and came up with “because I jolly well wanted to , end of story. Don’t piss me off I am packing a laser gun” and that settled that.

I’d like to use these on any stray pit bulls if they get in my way when I’m walking to work. I have permanent scars where one attacked me a few years back so I feel entitled and I don’t expect a laser would have the kick that a handgun or shotgun would. Plus, I imagine it would be quiet and not wake the neighbors. Do I _have_ to wear goggles though???